Social Media as Storytelling Destination Communication Channels

Abstract

This chapter reports a study on a religious tourism destination, Fátima, Portugal, with a focus on the contribution of social media to destination communication. The authors analysed the Facebook pages of four entities related to Fátima tourism to examine the number and type of posts and analyse to which extent these entities are sharing destination information or stories and encouraging visitors to tell their own stories about their visit to Fátima. The authors conducted a quantitative and qualitative analysis to Facebook posts during May, August, and October 2021 when Fátima receives the highest number of pilgrims.